When Joy overflows! In these extra ordinary times!
By my calculations its just five days to Christmas Day Morning and I’m trying to get a sense of the anticipation that might have been in the air some 2020 years ago.
First of all, I suppose that we ought to ask who it was who was anticipating? Who couldn’t wait for the first Christmas Day?
Certainly not the nation of Israel. The prophets of God appear, according to scripture, to have been silent for about 450 years! Actually I don’t believe that. I think it’s just that the prophecies made by the Prophets who literally, came after Malachi, who died about 442 BC, didn’t survive for inclusion in our canonised bible.
So lets assume that there weren't any prophets after Malachi.
What about King Herod Antipas? Was he breathless with anticipation? No I don’t think he was. To all intense and purposes he was a strong and wise king of Judea, albeit a violent and unbending one. He was whats known as a ‘Client King’, that is to say that he had been placed on the throne by The Romans and it was their garrison in Jerusalem that kept him on the there.
The kingdom of Judea prospered under Herod The Great and Herod Antipas, new cities were built, a new port was built and so was Masada the famous fortress on top of a mountain, but both kings feared for their thrones and their succession.
Anyone who was the slightest threat to King Herod Antipas could expect to be treated harshly. Many were just ‘disappeared’ and others were jailed, and few ever saw the light of day again!
So Herod had no great anticipation about the birth of the new king. In fact he appears to have known nothing about it except, when the three wise men, the magi, arrived unannounced at his Royal Court in Jerusalem, seeking the new king that the appearance of the star told them had been born.
He certainly wasn’t expecting the birth because he had to consult his own advisors and priests to discover the when, the where and the who.
And like the wise men, Herod had no idea of the true nature of the king who had been born but you can be sure that he saw the infant King Jesus as a threat to his own throne.
Then there is the Shepherds on the hillside, outside the village of Bethlehem. They are not anticipating anything. In fact they just are hoping for a quiet night free from predators and disturbances amongst their flocks.
The night in question, the first Christmas Eve, is just the same as any other night, perhaps a few more stars than normal. The sheep are in the fold, a shelter built of stone, or sometimes thorns, with a narrow opening across which at least one of the shepherds would have slept.
And of course there is Mary and Joseph who will have arrived at the stable, having been turned away from the Inn. We don’t know if Mary is in labour yet but she is certainly very close to her time.
There is every reason to assume that this labour, and this birth, would be as perfect as it is possible to be, because it is of God and not of man, but that is not to say that it would have been without pain. I don’t expect it would have been painless.
But what was going through their minds that night?
It’s been a long tiring journey, even riding on a donkey, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, the town of David. The 70 miles or so would have taken them at least 4 days. They were exhausted.
But the baby is coming. Nothing can stop a baby coming. 9 months to the day since Mary’s memorable conversation with The Angel Gabriel. The baby is coming, so I think there would be a fair degree of anticipation between Mary and Joseph.
So apart from the three wise men and apart from Mary and Joseph, almost no one is anticipating what is about to happen.
Mind you we are forgetting one important segment of the population, and that is The Heavenly Host.
They know the plan. They’ve actually been part of the plan almost from the very beginning. And when their Lord, literally, divides himself into three beings, Father, Son and Spirit, it’s a big occasion.
Actually a very, very big occasion!
So big in fact that the space between Heaven and earth collide, and the heavens are opened. Viewable from earth for the first time in recorded history.
Of course we have studied these events in several Advent Bible Studies and I often wondered why the heavens actually opened.
Why didn’t God ‘just’ send an angel to the Shepherds?
And I think the answer must be ‘Joy’.
I think that the heavens, and the heavenly host, angels, seraphim, cherubim, and the naphtali, were literally overflowing with ‘Joy’!
There was so much joy in fact, that the heavens burst open with it.
So why were they so joyful? I love posing questions in my sermons!
The answer must be, I think, love.
We spoke about love in last weeks sermon. I often do, and it often features in my sermons.
We talked about Gods great love for mankind and for all His creations, numbered amongst which would have been the heavenly host, The Angels, The Seraphim, The Cherubim and The Naphtali, and perhaps even heavenly beings that I cannot name.
Hundreds of them, even thousands, even hundreds of thousands. All created by God to serve His purposes, just like us. Only they are all heavenly beings, living in the supernatural realm, heaven, where they do His bidding and know His will.
There is evidence that these heavenly beings occasionally come into this earthly realm and on occasions the ‘Joy’ is so great in the heavenly realm that it spills over into the earthly realm, and one such occasion is the night that Jesus is born.
The heavenly host knew, from the very beginning of time, that it was going to happen and their anticipation, from all eternity, was overflowing with Joy.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Praise The Lord!
An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.’
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.’ Luke 2:8-14
(Play While Shepherds watch.)
Verse 14 tells us that the heavenly host ‘Suddenly’ appeared to the shepherds.
And they were singing.
They were praising and worshipping God. Not just the heavenly host but the angel that had bought the original message as well.
Their worship was joyful.
There was heavenly light.
Heavenly voices.
And heavenly Joy.
In these extra ordinary Covid times when many parts of the country, including London, are in Tier 3, almost completely locked down, and at the very least severely restricted, it’s difficult to find the Christmas ‘Joy’.
That is until you consider what it is we celebrate and why we celebrate it.
What we celebrate is the saving of the world, and Jesus, who’s birthday we celebrate on Christmas Day, is that saviour. He is the means by which mankind can be saved from the consequences of its sin.
The CoronaVirus, Covid 19, Lockdown, Tier 3 and any, and all, government regulations makes no difference to that fact. No virus and no earthly law can change that one jot.
Surely we can be joyful about that? Because by the simple expedience of belief and faith we can be saved from the consequences of our sin.
Also, think of all the love and joy we have experienced in our lives, through our association with our church and with others. Jesus, the saviour of the world, is the founder of the church and it is His Good News Gospel Message that we preach and teach.
By changing the way we are associated with God, He, Jesus, The Son Of God, who is also God, changed our relationship with God.
There is hope for sinners, that we will not die, except in this world, and will live, with Him, in the next. And that changes everything, absolutely everything.
There is a reason to be joyful this Christmas, despite the problems of 2020, because eternity is ahead of us not behind us. It is our future and it is a fact.
Joy to the world, The Lord has come!
Amen
